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Police Detain Kashmiri Youths Who Wore Green Jerseys To Local Match And Stood To Pakistani National Anthem

"We have not harmed anyone."
The match apparently took place between two villages sometime last week.
Screenshot/YouTube
The match apparently took place between two villages sometime last week.

A local cricket team in Kashmir's Ganderbal district was detained on Wednesday after a video clip, that went viral on social media, showed the players wearing what resembled the jerseys of the Pakistani team as the neighbouring country's national anthem played in the background. Their opposing team is seen wearing white uniforms.

A Ganderbal resident told Hindustan Times that the "National anthems of both countries were played, like in any international match." However, the video only showed the Pakistani anthem being played before the clip ended.

The match apparently took place between two villages sometime last week, at the same time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Jammu and Kashmir to inaugurate the Chenani-Nashri tunnel.

The Central Kashmir deputy inspector general of police, Ghulam Hassan Bhat confirmed to Hindustan Times that the players were detained.

A Kashmiri journalist confirmedthat it was a local team. "The players were not from the official state team," he said.

According to an HT report, after the incident, residents of the village gathered near the police station demanding immediate release of the 11 players. Security has been beefed up in the area.

One of the players told InUth.com that they chose to do this to show that they haven't forgotten the issue in Kashmir. "We have not harmed anyone but just played cricket the way we wanted to," the player said.

In February, Army Chief Bipin Rawat had warned locals against raising flags of ISIS and Pakistan.

"We would now request the local population that people who have picked up arms, and they are the local boys, if they want to continue with the acts of terrorism displaying flags of ISIS and Pakistan, then we will treat them as anti-national elements and go helter-skelter for them. They may survive today but we will get them tomorrow. Our relentless operations will continue," he had said.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.